BLACK HISTORY SALUTE

By Dr. Jerry Woods

“Standing On the Shoulders of Giants” is a phrase coined by Sir Issac Newton. I proudly offer this Salute to these deceased giants: Dr. E. Lynn Brown, Dr. Wesley C. McClure and Bishop William H. Graves. I, along with a bevy of others owe them an immense debt of gratitude for their profound impact and influence. “We are here because they were there“!

Alphas In The News

Brothers of BYL joined the Gamma Alpha Omega and Beta Chi Chapters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Monday as they celebrated their Founders’ Day. Congratulations on an outstanding Founders’ Day Celebration. May you have 115 more years of “service and sisterhood”!

IT’S MY ALPHAVERSARY!

Steve Newberry “Today 19 years ago I became a member of this Wonderful Fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. My line name was Ice Phrozen! In 2023 I’m still ICECOLD 06!”

BHS Announces Monthly Meeting

Bemis Historical Society will hold a monthly meeting on Tuesday, February 21, at 6:00 p.m. at the Bemis Mill Village Museum located at 2 North Missouri Street in Jackson. The program will be presented by Jon Rawl, Executive Director of Friends of Salem Cemetery Historic Site. The program includes details about the Civil War Battle of Jackson (also known as the Battle of Salem Cemetery) on Cotton Grove Road in East Madison County on December 19, 1862. He will share details of upcoming plans for this area. www.SalemCemetery.org

Website and Social Media

Bemis Historical Society www.bemishistory.org

The Bemis Museum https://www.facebook.com/ The-Bemis-Museum-149237151757283/

Contact information for Bemis Historical Society

Joel Jackson, Chairman joeljackson2@eplus.net

731-424-0739 home

Kathy Haney Williams, Vice Chairman & Program Chair

KatherineWilliams@charter.net

731-225-6938 mobile

BODIE LEE GENTRY CSENews Reader of the Week”

Congratulations to my great friend Mr Bodie Lee Gentry as the CrimeSEEN Examiner Newspaper Reader of the Week.

Bodie is a faithful loyal reader who supports and appreciates all the church news in the area. Bodie said, “we are blessed to have our own hometown newspaper here sharing information most other publications don’t share.”

Mr Gentry is a deacon at Faith Deliverance Church located on Old Medina Road in Jackson. He is a historian, artist, and musician and is available for bookings for weddings, events, Boys and Girls Club activities sharing his musical talents and knowledge of arts and crafts.

Please call him for your next event at Gentry’s Arts and Crafts at 731-2935096 or 731-3432554

“We enjoy serving people and sharing blessings with everyone.”

The Legacy

by Elvis Rogers

February is black history month and during this time my thoughts usually find their way back to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King. If you draw a line from Ebenezer Church in Atlanta over to Memphis, down to Montgomery Alabama and then back to Atlanta you will outline a space in which many of the civil rights activities that Dr. King was a part of occurred.

I grew up in the middle of that space. I was young but still I was very much aware of the things that were happening at that time. I saw it in real time, I read the newspapers,watched the television and was privy to the reactions and responses of those around me so I have a clear memory of those times and remember living in the atmosphere and the mood of those years. I realized that important things were happening.

James Earl Ray slept in a seedy motel in my home town the night before he went to Memphis. The motel was attached to an equally seedy beer joint that I visited a few times in my youth.

Not long out of high school I ran a store in Canton, Mississippi. Canton was ground zero for the civil rights movement in Mississippi. I was able to see a lot of the main participants of the movement first hand.

The civil rights movement was not only big news at the time, it was also local news. Life went on and these were side-bar issues to most unless one was actively involved.

My school integrated when I was a fourth grader. There was really no notable difference. Most of the new students lived in our community and were already known to us.

I say all this to get to my main point, or rather my recommendation, for black history month.

History and people look different at various stages of your life. The adult life of Dr. King took place during the onset of the “video era”. We have hours of interviews and speeches that we can review and study. This has not been the case with most historical figures. In the past we only had short news reels or end of life biographies to learn from. Go and listen to, and look at, Dr. King.

Most people only know the one or two lines from a couple of the more famous speeches but there are numerous interviews with CBS, NBC, the BBC, Meet the Press, Mike Douglas, David Susskind and many more. In fact there are enough that one could spend all day on it. You may not have all day to spend on it,but I suggest a couple of hours at least .That is enough time to get a great perspective on his personality, his thoughts, his vision for the future and his interactions with others. I think you will come away pleased that you took that time to do so.

Contact information: E.Rogers@writerworker. com